Reader gives us the rundown on Public Questions

Public Question #1VOTERS TO APPROVE STATE AUTHORITY BONDS PAYABLE FROM STATE APPROPRIATIONS

Question #1 Reasons to Vote Yes:

● Supporters believe the framers of the Constitution envisioned public approval for borrowing since the debt limitation clause was in the 1844 and 1947 Constitution.●State authorities have been used increasingly for the purpose of bonding for projects.●Citizens need to constrain the Legislature from borrowing without voter approval. The November 2007 State of New Jersey Debt Report places general obligation debt (approved by voters) at 2.8 billion dollars. By contrast, the samereport puts debt subject to appropriation (State authority bonds) at 25.2 billion dollars.

Reasons to Vote No:

●We have a representative form of government. It is the job of the Legislature, elected by the people, to make funding decisions. Voters should not constrain the Legislature which must weigh the need for public capital projects against available resources.●Passage is likely to make it more difficult to address regional capital or infrastructure needs that will not have support of the entire state.●Ballot questions cannot accurately present complicated appropriation issues to voters for an effective government process.

Public Question # 2PROVIDES THAT METHOD OF SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF CERTAIN MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGES BE SET BY STATUTE RATHER THAN BY THE CONSTITUTION

Question #2 Reasons to vote yes:

● Appointment of municipal court judges should be a local issue. Removing the Governor’s appointment power for some municipal judges from the Constitution is the first step toward this goal.●Proponents believe that removing the Governor and Senate from theappointment process will make it more likely that towns will explore consolidating municipal courts.

Reasons to vote no:

●The courts in question operate as regional courts and appointment by theGovernor with the advice and consent of the Senate ensures that the interest ofthe entire region is considered.●The current process makes local politics less likely to play a part in the appointment process. The Senate Judiciary Committee and full Senate are required to vote on the appointment.

Question one gives the power to spend back to the people. We should be voting yes on this one.

Question two is the county party bosses’ way to try to consolidate their power even further and to eliminate Senatorial Courtesy altogether. You see it being supported by McNerney who is owned by Joe. Municipalities will have to take the political sweethearts as their judges. It’s bad enough, don’t make it worse. Vote no.

Ballot Question One is misleading and dangerous for property taxpayers. Many of us hoped this referendum would put an end to the runaway borrowing that has plagued the state. While this question appears, on its surface, to stop unconstitutional borrowing, the legislation gives additional power to the legislature to place even more responsibility on every property taxpayer. It is a fraud. Here’s why:

The devil is in the fine print of Senate Concurrent Resolution #39 which will replace our current constitution if State Ballot Question #1 is approved.

First, voter approval will NOT be needed if a proposed project has “an independent non-State source of revenue” or “a source of revenue otherwise required to be appropriated pursuant to another provision of this Constitution”.

Any Enron accountant or Abbott lawyer can drive a truck through those loopholes.

But here is the real kicker: “No voter approval shall be required . . . authorizing the creation of . . . debts . . . for the refinancing of all or a portion of any outstanding debts or liabilities of . . . an autonomous public corporate entity.”

Our Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey voters don’t have to pay a dime on any of the $29 billion previously borrowed by shell entities like the EDA-unless they vote to do it. But with a “Yes” vote on Ballot Question #1, Governor Corzine and the State Legislature could pass a simple law to refinance every dollar of the $37 billion borrowed by state authorities WITHOUT voter approval! Then, every “unenforceable” contract to pay $3 billion a year will become enforceable for the first time-WITHOUT voter approval-for the next 30 years.

Once the full faith and credit of New Jersey is pledged, all state sales tax money is earmarked to pay that debt before it is spent on anything else. And if that money is not enough, the State is legally obligated to adopt a new statewide property tax to pay the difference.